Embedded Shelf For Improving Grip On Exercise Equipment With A Single Gripping Member

ABSTRACT

Weight lifters have perpetually tried to find ways to improve their grip when performing heavier lifts. This invention discloses an embedded shelf that is securely fastened directly to the weight equipment. This embedded shelf allows a lifter to still perform heavy lifts without any safety concerns due to potential loss of grip. Another benefit of the embedded shelf is that it allows a lifter to quickly release the equipment if a safety concern arises. This shelf is directly fastened to weight equipment where a user grips a single member with both hands when performing various exercises that rely on different mechanisms to provide resistance for the lifting exercise.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Weight lifters have been perpetually trying to find a way to improve their grip when performing heavier lifts. However, there are disadvantages to the ways lifters currently try to improve their grip. Some lifters strap their hands or wrists to the equipment, which could be a safety hazard as it makes it difficult for a lifter to quickly release the weight or machine in an emergency. The present invention is intended to address this problem by providing a shelf embedded within the exercise equipment itself. This allows for improved grip but also allows a user to quickly release the equipment because they are not connected to the equipment.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There is existing prior art that tries to give a lifter a variety of ways to grip exercise equipment. U.S. 2003/0130096 by LaCroce allows multiple ways to grip a barbell, but this is fundamentally different because it requires multiple gripping members that are situated at different angles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a shelf that is embedded within the structure of exercise equipment where a single member is gripped with both hands when performing a weight bearing exercise. The shelf is made of a sturdy material that is either fabricated as part of the exercise equipment or retroactively attached to existing exercise equipment. This embedded shelf will run along the length of the gripping area of the single member to allow for users to vary their grip depending on what muscles they want to target. The embedded shelf will allow for improved grip and permits a user to work the targeted muscles to a greater extent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may take form in certain components and structures, preferred embodiments of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an exercise device with a single member that a user grips with both hands where there is space at the end of the gripping member to attach plates to create the resistance for the weight bearing exercise.

FIG. 2 shows an exercise device with a single member that a user grips with both hands where the user uses their body weight as resistance for the weight bearing exercise.

FIG. 3 shows an exercise device with a single member that a user grips with both hands where the gripping member is attached by a cable or rope to a stack of weights that provides the resistance when performing the weight bearing exercise.

FIG. 4 shows a close up of view of how the embedded shelf is situated on the gripping members. The gripping members may have different shapes, but the shelf is situated in a consistent way across all the gripping members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is carried out as illustrated in FIGS. 1-4. A variety of exercise equipment works with a user gripping a single member with both hands to perform a weight bearing exercise. The single gripping member can either be the weight bearing member itself, can be attached to a set of weights using a cable or rope, or can allow a user to use their body weight as resistance when performing an exercise.

FIG. 1 shows a piece of exercise equipment that uses a single gripping member where the single also directly bears the weight that is lifted. Some examples where the single member is the weight bearing member are when a user is performing a bench press, a military press or a squat. The weight bearing member for these exercises is a cylindrical bar with a gripping area that runs along the majority of the length of the bar. There is one section on each end of the bar that the user does not grip. These two sections are where weight plates are placed to provide the resistance for performing bench presses, military presses, squats and other exercises.

The cylindrical bar that is used for these exercises are made up of a very sturdy material. A very sturdy material is critical because when performing a bench press, elite bodybuilders and power lifters may place over 250 lbs. on each end of the cylindrical bar. When performing a squat, elite bodybuilders and power lifters may put over 400 lbs. on each end of the cylindrical bar. Clearly, to withstand several hundred lbs. on each end of a bar, a sturdy material has to be used, or else the weights on each end could bend the cylindrical bar. The material that is primarily used for these cylindrical bars is some form of iron.

“Iron” is used to describe a variety of chemical compounds. All of these chemical compounds have substantial amounts of the element Fe/iron. The difference in the compounds is what other elements are present and in what amounts. Any of these iron compounds can be used for the cylindrical bars, so long as they can handle the high weights that elite athletes may place on each end of the bar.

FIG. 2 shows a piece of exercise equipment that uses a single gripping member where the single gripping member allows a user to use their own body weight as resistance for an exercise. An example of an exercise where a user uses their own body weight for resistance is a pull up or chin up. One of the most common types of pull up bar is where there is a single member that a user grips with both hands. This single member is either mounted to a wall or to an “exercise station” where a single structure is used to perform several different exercises. Pull up bars also need to be made of a sturdy material, because it will need to be able to support the full body weight of the user performing the pull up. Similarly to bench press bars and lat pulldown bars, pull up bars are primarily made of some form of iron. This does not preclude other materials from being used for pull up bars, so long as other materials have comparable physical properties to those of iron, they can be used for a pull up bar.

FIG. 3 shows a piece of exercise equipment that uses a single gripping member where the single gripping member is connected to a stack of weights that provides the resistance for weight bearing exercises. An example where the single member is connected to a stack of weights via a cable or rope is a lat pulldown machine. The single gripping member the user grips when performing lat pulldowns is a sturdy member that has a middle section and then two angled end sections. One end of a rope or cable is attached to the center section of the gripping member and the other end of the rope or cable is attached to a stack of weights. The single gripping member still needs to be made of a sturdy material. While the gripping member may not directly bear the weight, the gripping member needs to be able to withstand the force the user exerts on the member to be able to lift the stack of weights. This material does not need to be as sturdy as for the cylindrical bar used for bench presses, because the amounts of weight lifted during lat pulldowns are not as great as those when performing bench presses or squats. However, iron is still the primary material used for these lat pulldown bars. For some lat pulldown bars, the bent sections of the bar are covered with a rubber or foam to give the user a cushion for their grip.

FIG. 4 shows how the embedded shelf 100 is situated on the various single member grips. While the single member grips may have slightly different shapes or thicknesses based on how much weight they have to bear, they can all be made through similar processes. If a metal casting process is used to create the single member grips, the embedded shelf 100 could be added to the mold used in the casting process. This would allow the embedded shelf 100 to be fabricated as part of the gripping member itself, which would be the most secure way to attach the embedded shelf 100 to the gripping member. It is also possible to weld the embedded shelf 100 to an existing gripping member. This is a way to retroactively improve the grip of existing exercise equipment, but would not be as secure of an attachment of the embedded shelf 100 as directly casting a single gripping member with an embedded shelf 100. The embedded shelf 100 does not have to be the exact same material as the gripping member, the embedded shelf 100 just has to be made of a material that can be securely fastened to exercise equipment. The dimensions of the embedded shelf 100 can vary, so long as the shelf is does not have a length, width or height less than ¼ of an inch or greater than 1 inch. In the case of the lat pulldown bar, the embedded shelf 100 would have to be thicker in the bent sections if there is extra padding on those sections. An extra cushion will make it harder to benefit from the better grip the shelf provides, as the cushion may be thick enough that the user will not notice the embedded shelf 100. Therefore, the thickness of the embedded shelf 100 will have to be correspondingly thicker than any non-cushioned section to guarantee that the user will feel the embedded shelf 100 through the extra cushion. 

1. An article of manufacture that gives a user a better grip when gripping weight equipment, comprising: a single gripping member with a single gripping length; wherein said single gripping member is made of a sturdy material; wherein a user will grab with both hands within said single gripping length when performing a weight bearing exercise, wherein said single gripping member has a first weight bearing area on one end of said single gripping member and a second weight bearing area on the opposite end of said single gripping member; wherein said first weight bearing area and said second weight bearing area are not part of said gripping length and said first weight bearing area and said second weight bearing area are used to attach and fasten weight plates; a grip enhancing shelf securely embedded within said gripping length of said single gripping member at a grip enhancing angle.
 2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said sturdy material of said single gripping member is a cylindrical bar made of a sturdy metal; wherein said first weight bearing area and said second weight bearing area are both capable of attaching up to 500 lbs; wherein said grip enhancing shelf is created as part of said cylindrical bar using a single mold in a metal casting process.
 3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said single gripping member is a preexisting cylindrical bar made of a sturdy metal; wherein said first weight bearing area and said second weight bearing area are both capable of attaching up to 500 lbs; wherein said grip enhancing shelf is securely welded to said preexisting cylindrical bar.
 4. The article of manufacture of claim 2, wherein said sturdy metal of said cylindrical bar is some form of iron.
 5. The article of manufacture of claim 3, wherein said sturdy metal of said cylindrical bar is some form of iron.
 6. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf.
 7. The article of manufacture of claim 5, wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf.
 8. An article of manufacture that gives a user a better grip when gripping weight equipment, comprising: a single gripping member made of a sturdy material; wherein said single gripping member is comprised of a center section, a first bent end section and a second bent end section; wherein said center section of said single gripping member is securely connected to a first end of a connecting member; wherein a second end of said connecting member is securely connected said to a stack of weights; wherein said first bent end section is long enough to allow a user to grip said gripping member with one hand without touching said center section of said gripping member; wherein said second bent end section is long enough to allow a user to grip said gripping member with one hand without touching said center section of said gripping member; a grip enhancing shelf securely embedded along the length of said first bent end section, said center section and said second bent end section at a grip enhancing angle; wherein said user grips said single gripping member to perform a weight bearing exercise.
 9. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein said sturdy material of said single gripping member is a bar made of a sturdy metal and said grip enhancing shelf is created as part of said bar using a single mold in a metal casting process; wherein said connecting member is selected from the group consisting of a rope, a cable or a wire.
 10. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein said sturdy material of said single gripping member is a preexisting bar made of a sturdy metal and said grip enhancing shelf is securely welded to said preexisting bar; wherein said connecting member is selected from the group consisting of a rope, a cable or a wire.
 11. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein said sturdy metal is a form of iron; wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf.
 12. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein said sturdy metal is a form of iron; wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf.
 13. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein said first bent end section and said second bent end section comprises an extra layer of padding.
 14. An article of manufacture that gives a user a better grip when gripping weight equipment, comprising: a single gripping member made of a sturdy material; wherein a user will grab said single gripping member with both hands when performing a weight bearing exercise, wherein said weight bearing exercise is performed using said user's body weight as resistance; a grip enhancing shelf securely embedded within said gripping length of said single gripping member at a grip enhancing angle.
 15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein said single gripping member is a cylindrical bar; wherein said grip enhancing shelf is created as part of said cylindrical bar using a single mold in a metal casting process.
 16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein said single gripping member is a preexisting cylindrical bar; wherein said grip enhancing shelf is securely welded to said preexisting cylindrical bar.
 17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein said sturdy metal of said cylindrical bar is some form of iron.
 18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said sturdy metal of said cylindrical bar is some form of iron.
 19. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf.
 20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said grip enhancing shelf has dimensions of no less than a quarter of an inch and no more than one inch in either the length, width or height of said grip enhancing shelf. 